General Hospital fans saw the end of Esme Prince last week after a full year in which the character had no memories — and no real storyline movement.
General Hospital Seemed To Have A Good Idea
When Esme (Avery Kristen Pohl) first appeared on the Port Charles scene she seemed like the perfect young villainess who could be a foil for the younger set but they went too far too fast with her and she ended up being written into a corner.
After all, it’s hard to know what to do when you have a character drug a young woman and then record her best friends having sex for the first time before blasting the recording onto the internet and framing the drugged girl for the crime. So, GH gave her amnesia and a baby.
The amnesia could have worked if it didn’t last a full year and Esme had shown some sort of growth when it was all over. But that was the opposite of what happened.
A Wasted Chance With Esme
Rather than give Esme a whole new life during her amnesiac year that could have even included a new love interest, we saw her whine to Spencer Cassadine (Nicholas Alexander Chavez) the entire year that she needed help with Ace.
Sure, she got a job and learned how to be a single mom, but all that was for absolutely nothing as soon as she got her memories back and announced to her mother Heather Webber (Alley Mills) that she felt no remorse for the things she did.
Wait, what? No remorse at all. No growth, no storyline movement, just a completely wasted year for nothing. Esme could have emerged from her amnesiac year as a shades of grey character who could still be manipulative, but who at least wanted to try and be a good person. Instead, she reverted to form until she was written off the show.
GH wasted a full 12 months of story time AND a talented actress for nothing. She was written into a corner not once, but twice.
Once she clocked Kevin Collins (Jon Lindstrom) over the head for no reason and followed Trina Robinson (Tabyana Ali) and Spencer to Paris with a syringe full of drugs in tow, that was it.
There was no redeeming this character who had been given every chance in the world with no follow-through by writers who never had any idea what to do with her.
Tune into General Hospital weekdays on ABC to see if Esme ever makes a comeback.